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For Groping Thralls, 
A Shield! 



A SUPPLEMENT 



TO 



Freedom's Factor, Hail! 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE UNITED IRISHMAN, 

12 Chambers Street, 

New York. 

1885. 



Copyright, 1885, by 
The Author. 

Ailrights reserved. 



For Groping Thralls, 
A Shield! 



I. 

While timid hearts, and false, still bend 

To hollow custom's quest, 
O'er shadowing cries, from Serfs, that rend 

Life's pulse — from East to West — 
From Pole to Pole — and clamor on, 

For bait — from Princes' crust, 
Who, first, shall gird Truth's armor on 

And bid Crowns bite the dust ! 



32 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

11. 
When rife, our soil, with Spoiler's zest 

For luxury drones have spread — 
Of which earth's lordlings spawn the nest 

And millions gild the bed, 
Who Wakes the cLx\rion of protest 

From men who will not crawl — 
Who will not bend Proud Virtue s crest 

Or thrive by Honor s fall ! 

III. 
When Harlequins their antics fling, 

And joust, in Hall of State, 
'Till it doth seem a Circus-ring — 

Where Clowns may lose the fate 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! S3 

Of careless Freemen to the rasp 

Of a Rapacious Few, — 
Who warns lest shackles fix their 

GRASP, 

So FIRE MUST FORCE : UNDO ! 

IV. 
When Altars, Forums, Press unite 

The wall of Truth to hide — 
To varnish monuments that light 

Sweet Freedom's matricide — 
The growth of tyranny to vail, 

Tho' trellised in mid-air 
And grating earth — by wire and rail, 

Who ventures : Slaves, Beware ! 



34 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

V. 
A free state's danger ever grew 

From concentrating gain — 
Incorporating with a few 

The powers should appertain 
To ev'ry man — of right belong 

To all men born and bred 
Upon our soil, first hymned the song: 

A Crown for Ev'ry Head ! 

VI. 

Awake ! Bold Patrick Hc7iry 's Htie 
For ''Liberty, or Death" — 

Whilst British bayonets imbrue, 
With blood, Egyptian heath — - 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 35 

Hold India's realm — thrall Irish sod — 

And Afric's wilds engleam 
With their investment, for the Rod 

Shall make their sway supreme I 

VII. 
Awake ! Brave Koscitiskds voice, 

When crypted Russia wails, 
With smothered moan — and Czars rejoice 

That tired Nature quails — 
And Kaisers weld a Triparte Bond, 

Whereby perpetuate. 

Their reigns — through wretched years — 
beyond 

Foiled hopes sad estimate ! 



:^6 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

VIII. 
Arise ! Bright Sun of Washington / 

Dawn thou I C Conneir s star I 
No LONGER SLEEP, Lloyd Garrisou I 

Speak, Thomas Francis Meagher I — 
H AIL ! Byron s spirit, gloomed in shade / 

Thine ! Emmet fs — m^atchless, true I 

Rouse you ! Earth's heroes eer drew 
blades ! — 

Here, Manhood waneth too ! 

IX. 

Aye ! Here — where Freedom dared recite 

Its cradle-melody 
Of the inalienable right 

Of KVA. to Liberty 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 37 

And life, and happmess — a Creed 

Degenerate expands : 
Its ritual — spawned of unchecked greed — 

Golds Sovereignty Demands I 

X. 

Doth, then, no Meteor gleam the sky — 

No Echo throb the world 
Responsive to the anxious cry 

For Champions have unfurled 
Their banner in the front of crown, 

Or eloquently sprung 

Staunch hearts, with ire, the Cause to 
drown 

That Freedom's Stipend wrung ! 



38 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XI. . 

There delve, thank God — A Privileged 
Few 

Unsignalized by Caste — 
Un-knighted by their arteries' hue, 

L/n-sheened by gold or brass, 
Who soar above the paltry knaves 

That ebb and flow the tide, 
And boldly stem the frowning waves 

Might else Mans doom decide. 

XII. 

O'ertopping Class — of title shorn — - 
These sway, by Thought — siipreme^ 

Beyond the Great we foster, borne 
Above the clouds, whence gleam 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 39 

Eternal Truths — and nobly shine 

So high o'er av'rage bound 
Of mind, their instincts keen divine 

God's text, and plain expound. 



XIII. . 

These minds win mast'ry, not by strength 

Of Samson, or the rod 
Of Solomon, or Class its length 

Of rope had spun ; and God 

Had seen Fruition of His Plan — 

i 
So long deferred, because 

It is not patent yet that Man 

Must here complete God's Laws 1 



40 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XIV. 

But slow and toilsome Is the road 

Of wrestlers with the cares 

That Want and Wealth's Proscription 
goad, 

Whose heart-strings Mercy tears, 
And prompts to sound the warning 7tote 

Shall waken Freedom's sloth, 
Or whet the God-annointed Proat 

Shall kill earth's Tyrant-growth \ 

XV. 

Life's patriot hopes had been undone, 
And sceptres knit their shroud, 

But for the pangs beneath which groan 
The quick thought — unendowed 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 41 

By leisure's vantage, poor in purse — 
Moved Genhis, with the tear 
Of Pity s Kindling, to rehearse 
Right's Maxims — Slaves to cheer / 

XVI. 

These Lights are damned by pensioned 
screed, 

Who damns all things not gilt ; 

But wherefore, pray, his curses heed- 
Since damned by Vanderbilt ? — 

Thou'lt 7iot accurse^ Reflective Mind, 
The voice would franchise thee / 

Or faintly warn life's tokens. — Blind 
Must be thine eye fails see ! 



42 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XVII. 

All 7nen who reck 07' ready and think 

Can not have missed perceive 
There is no sympathy, or link 

Between those would 7^elieve 
The wretchedness of woe and want, 

And those who feign believe 
Blood hath degrees, or idly Cant — 

Whilst hungered millions grieve ! 

XVIII. 

I echo griefs woo Dynamite ! — 
Aye ! Read, concentred here — 

Within the radius of your sight, 
Who spell my greeting clear, 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 43 

The thought would, unimprisoned, cry : 

For tLS what fruit has Earth f 

The bounteous soil, tJie sea, the sky 

Were stofn before our birth I 



XIX. 

What tcse of arms, ivithout a field 

In which to swincr ? — To sail 
The parcel' d seas — their revenues yield 

To kings — of zuhat avail? — 
Why must we think, or feel, or strive ! — 

Hope^ offers tcs what zest ? 
On ev'ry source of thrift the gyve 

Of wealth has stamped its crest ! 



44 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XX. 

The forester, who fells a tree, 

Pays tribute to a Crown ; — 
Or, in otcr land, we boast so free. 

He tithes to those who own ! — 
Whoe'er would plant, or hoe, or plow, 

Mtist pay a rent. — The fee — ■ 
For all, by God created — now 

Is HELD FROM AnCESTRY ! 



XXI. 

What stimulant for him who lives — 
With heart and will to do — 

Bereft of power since Nature gives 
Her bounty to a few — 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 45 

A few, who drive their Hveried teams, 
With panels 'scutcheoned bright, 

Whilst every Daily Issue teems 
With tales that sob : IS Right ! 

XXIL 

Tired Men are questioning: Is there 
Right f 

And with that thought, they II seek 

The stir est Factor — Dynamite — 

By which their souls may wreak 

The vengeful stroke — through long 
abuse — - 

Of whate er doth obstruct 

Lifes aspiration for the use 

Of Nature s Usufructs 



46 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A shield: 

XXIII. 
That right may be, God doth a trust, 

And instinct, strong implant 
In ev'ry heart ; but now the crust 

Of poverty so scant, 
And hard, and dry — and wealth so gaud- 

And pow'r so false — and fame 
So oft' allied with wrong and fraud. 



All seems the Right disclaim^ I 



XXIV. 

And when the Right is so obscure 

In ev'ry walk, that life 
A burden grows, whe^^e none are sure 

Or safe — and hate, and strife 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 47 

Prevail — and dark suspicion broods 

In ev'ry place of meed, — 
The time is ripe for those dire moods 

That Revolution breed f 



XXV. 

Thrice, Hail ! then, Factor of the Mass — 

The Mass enslaved by steam 
And wire, now centralizing- Class, 

Extlnorulshinof tJie zleam- 
That once illumined faith and hope — 

N'o longer to be fou7id 
When fostered cliqttes define the scope 

Life's intuitions bo2C7id. 



48 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XXVI. 

Behold slaves thonged to rail and wheel- 
To steam and wire bowed — 

To swell their Millions, who can feel 
No thouofht akin the crowd ! — 

Behold fruition checked — held down 
By ''tenures" — not by God, 

True Lord in Fee ; but of some clown 
Last born upon the sod ! 

XXVIL 

Where is the Ageitt dow'red our sphere- 

For its enlio^htenment — 
Not now perve7^ted, through the fear 

Bred by iinpoverishment 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 49 

Of guileless soul and patient heart — 

In frames 0/ Men who work. 
And Women brave, who share their part. 

To pamper those who shirk I — 



XXVIII. 

To pamper those the substance rob 

From toil — hope's measure steal 
From pulses that so tender throb 

They do not guess, or feel 
How vultures — masked by human guise- 

Their.vital fibres drain 
To glut their coffers who despise 

The blood in labor's vein ! 



50 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XXIX 

Dread dangers menace T^'utlis estate ! 

Yet God hath raised a Shield 
For groping thralls — a Factor Great- 

When hunger may have reeled 
Man's craving stomach for so long, 

The angry wail shall burst : 
In Dynamite our Hope ! — The song 

Loud chorus : Class be Cursed ! 

XXX. 

Remember you, in France, how fared, 

(A century ago,) 
The Lords, from loaded tables, \s^^r^</ 



To famished men — ag^low 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 51 

With life and strength — no crumbs, and 
grass 

The diet peasant' s fed. 

Till vengeance broke its Leash, and Class 

Was crushed so Pity bled I 

XXXI. 

By France, take heed ! — To-day we have 
An Agent — Freedom's ow7i — 

More powerful than pen, and brave 
As mace, or axe, or stone — 

Than Congress mightier by far — 

Than any Talisman you'll name 

More just and safe, when sinks Ti^utlis 
star 

And Death — man's choice, or Shame 1 



52 FOR CxROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 

XXXII. 

Mind honor'd, bide awhile, till found 

Quick Justice must be reached^ 
When scorned by Judge to Bosses bound, 

And Jicries — whilom preached 
The safeguards of the citizen, — 

07^ Cong7^ess7ne?i — -for sale I 
Theji, Dynamite — Gods benison 

On thy Inventor I— Wkiy. ! 

XXXIII. 
Well placed, a pound of Dynamite 

May wipe Dyjiasties ozct — 
Corrupted Senates put to flight — 

Strong towers and bastiofis rout — 



FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 53 

Disniajitle guns, statcnch prison doors 

Unhinge to lesser crime 
Than blots otcr Legislative flo 01^ s — 

And Freedom wake Sublime ! 

XXXIV. 

A Thrall may wear it in his vest ! 

As Thralls will shortly wear — 
To cast athzvart the Powei^s e^icrest 

By wrongs Trtith will not bear I — 
Save bastard cliques heed the approach 

Of that red hour shall blight, 
On trembling soil, their rash encroach! 

THAT HOUR, SWEET DYNA- 
MITE! 



54 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 



Of blows aimed Caste, may no stroke 

FAIL ! 

Accurs't Blood's Classes ! Hail, 
The hour that gave us Dynamite ! 
Let speed its might! — MAKE Right! 



Inauguration Day^ 1885. 



